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Guide

What drives the cost of commercial cleaning.

Typical rates, the factors behind them and three worked examples from Roseville to San Francisco, so you can set a budget before the walkthrough.

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How cleaning is priced.

Commercial cleaning is priced by the unit of work: square feet each month for recurring service, square feet per job for floor and carpet work, and hours for a day porter. The figures below are 2026 ranges for the Bay Area and the Sacramento region, taken from published market data.

Your own figure comes from a walkthrough of your building and the written plan and quote that follows it.

Typical rates by service.

As of 2026, recurring office and janitorial cleaning on a five-night schedule typically lands between $0.15 and $0.25 per square foot monthly across our service area. The band opens at $0.10 for large, open floors with light use and tops out at $0.46 for San Francisco buildings carrying heavy traffic and a long task list. Small suites pay more per foot than big floors, because travel and setup are spread over less space. Storefronts and restaurants price above the band, since customer restrooms and street entrances take more time, and medical and dental offices do too, because exam rooms need closer detail.

Warehouses and light industrial buildings run lower per foot, typically $0.09 to $0.22 a month, within a wider spread of $0.06 to $0.39, because much of the floor needs less frequent work. A day porter is billed by the hour, usually $34 to $47 per porter-hour, with a full spread of $30 to $57 from the Sacramento suburbs to downtown San Francisco.

Periodic and one-time work is priced per square foot per job. Carpet extraction typically costs $0.20 to $0.44 a square foot each time, from $0.12 for light soil to $0.70 for heavy. Stripping and refinishing vinyl tile runs $0.45 to $1.00 a square foot, from $0.35 for a simple scrub and recoat to $3.00 for heavy restoration, with a minimum charge on small jobs. Post-construction cleanup, all passes together, typically comes to $0.30 to $0.70 a square foot within a $0.22 to $1.00 spread. Concrete scrubbing, high dusting and lot sweeping are priced from what the walkthrough finds.

What moves the price.

Footage and frequency carry the most weight. The rate is quoted per foot, but what you are buying is crew hours, and five nights takes more of them than three. A well-built plan sets frequencies by area, so restrooms and kitchens stay on every visit while quiet offices move to a lighter rotation.

Next come the rooms that take time out of proportion to their size: restrooms, kitchens, breakrooms, locker rooms and exam rooms. Floor mix counts as well, since carpet needs vacuuming, vinyl tile needs burnishing and both need periodic work. Headcount, visitor traffic, after-hours entry rules, freight-elevator-only access and how early the crew can start all change the hours a night takes.

What’s included is the last lever and the easiest to overlook. Interior glass, carpet extraction, floor refinishing and porter coverage are each priced as their own lines. A clear written task list shows exactly what a monthly figure includes.

How prices differ by city.

Labor drives the cost of cleaning, so local wages shape every rate. Wage levels run highest in San Francisco, Berkeley and the South Bay and lowest around Sacramento.

That spread shows in the rates. A five-night office plan typically runs $0.17 to $0.25 a sq ft per month in San Francisco and $0.15 to $0.23 through the Sacramento region, with Oakland, Fremont and Hayward between them at $0.16 to $0.24, all as of 2026. Porter hours follow the same line, typically $37 to $47 in San Francisco against $34 to $43 in Sacramento and Elk Grove. Price an 8,000-square-foot office at the middle of each band and it comes to about $1,520 a month in Sacramento and $1,680 in San Francisco.

Three worked examples.

Start in Roseville, with an 8,000-square-foot insurance office holding one kitchen and four restrooms. Cleaned five nights a week at $0.16 a square foot, it runs about $1,280 a month as of 2026. It sits low in the band because the layout is open and the headcount modest.

In Sunnyvale, a 30,000-square-foot tech building cleaned five nights at $0.19 comes to $5,700 a month. Its kitchens run dry by early afternoon, so the plan adds a porter four hours each weekday, roughly 87 hours a month at $40 an hour, or $3,480. Together that is $9,180 a month, with the porter hours as the easiest line to tune.

A 14,000-square-foot San Francisco tower floor at $0.24 runs $3,360 a month, or $40,320 over a year. Its 10,000 square feet of carpet gets extraction three times a year at $0.32, adding $3,200 per cleaning and $9,600 a year. Budgeting the full year at $49,920, rather than the monthly figure alone, keeps the periodic work from arriving as a surprise.

Reading quotes side by side.

Turn every quote into the same two numbers: a rate per square foot per month and a full-year total that includes periodic work. Divide the monthly figure by the footage being cleaned, then add twelve months of floor, carpet and porter lines. A quote that looks high month to month often comes out level once the yearly work is counted.

Then hold the rate up against the band for your city. A figure well under it usually means fewer hours in the building than the work needs; one well over it should come with a reason, such as a heavy restroom count or tight access. Our guide on what goes into a commercial cleaning quote walks through the line-by-line review.

Getting your number from Fieldstone.

We walk your building with you, measure the areas that get cleaned and ask about your hours, headcount and floors. You then receive a written plan and quote listing each area, its tasks and its frequency, with periodic work and porter hours on their own lines, so the number is easy to check against the ranges in this guide.

A few useful answers

Quick answers.

What does office cleaning typically cost per square foot in the Bay Area?

As of 2026, a five-night plan typically runs $0.15 to $0.25 a square foot each month across the region, with San Francisco toward the top and the Sacramento area toward the bottom.

Why does the same office cost more in San Francisco than in Folsom?

Labor sets the rate, and it costs more in San Francisco than around Folsom. Tower access rules and longer task lists add hours too.

How is a day porter priced compared with nightly cleaning?

A porter is billed by the hour instead of by the square foot, typically $34 to $47 per porter-hour across our service area.

Is carpet extraction part of the monthly cleaning rate?

It is priced per job on its own line, as is floor refinishing, so the monthly rate covers the routine and the periodic work stays visible.

Does a three-night schedule cost less than five nights?

Yes. Fewer nights means fewer crew hours, and the rate is built from those hours. Restrooms and kitchens usually stay on more nights than private offices.

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